


Welcome To Mars

by Spirit and Opportunity (SentinelSpockNimoy)



Series: Opportunity and Amity [1]
Category: MER - Fandom, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Rovers - Fandom, NASA - Fandom, NASA MER, The Rovarians
Genre: Aliens On Mars, Gen, Mars, Mars Exploration, Mars Rover OCs, Sentient Mars Rovers, mars rovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 11:31:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19744864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentinelSpockNimoy/pseuds/Spirit%20and%20Opportunity
Summary: A small rover named Amity is sent by NASA to study the Rovarians, Earth's alien neighbors who live on Mars.





	Welcome To Mars

"Don't you have a camera, Spirit? You could take your own selfies too." A voice said. Spirit jumped, startled. She'd been busy grousing out loud to no one-or so she'd thought-about seeing _yet another_ selfie from the Curiosity rover. Why couldn't the Rigel filter satellites block those out too?

Spirit huffed in response,

“I tried, and they came out terrible. I look like I should have a giant ‘WIDE LOAD’ sign on me-” She looked around, both sets of eyes scanning for whoever had spoken.

“Who said that anyway?” A burst of static sounded, possibly the equivalent of a snort. 

“Down here.” Reaching barely four feet tall (on a good day) stood a little rover.

“Pleasure to meet you,” it, or rather he, said. “My name is Amity.”

If Spirit had a jaw, it would’ve dropped.

“Hi! You are adorable! I’m Spirit-wait, you already knew that. Uh, where are you from?” She eyed him curiously, the six-foot alien towering over him. Her brown Pancam apertures narrowed as she examined his build

“Never seen your type before. What’s your mission?”

The tiny rover managed to refrain from sighing at the word “adorable,” but his shutters closed slowly and deliberately over his eye cameras.

“Earth. I’ve been sent by NASA as a representative of humanity, to keep peace between Earth and extraterrestrials.”

Amity’s gaze swept over the weapons she carried; a disruptor pistol, a stunner, and her collapsed staff weapon on her back. “That includes Rovarians.”

Spirit followed his gaze

“Oh, don’t worry, I always have these on me. Habit I picked up from the war.” Her tone darkened at that, “We made up with humans after that, though. We realized nobody was going to win, and it was already the bloodiest war in human history. More deaths-human and Rovarian-than any war ever fought on Earth. We were all relieved when it was over. I’m guessing by the way you’re eyeing me, NASA forgot to tell you about that.”

“I was briefed on everything,” Amity said, with only a blink to show his emotions. “Anyway, either side could easily become corrupt, especially humans, but that’s off the record. I’m only doing as I was told.”

He looked past Spirit and into the distance. “Would you mind introducing me to your other government officials?”

“Oppy and I are the big two. Everyone else is specialized. But yeah, I can introduce you. Follow me.” The bigger rover turned and started off in a direction further from Amity’s landing site. Not that he’d be turning back, it had taken five sols before he even encountered a single Rovarian. They weren’t overpopulating the planet like humans were on Earth. He’d seen their ships fly by overhead, but there was no chance of flagging even the smaller shuttle craft and runabouts down. Spirit was the first Rovarian he’d actually encountered.

One had to admit, seeing pictures and videos of them didn’t compare to actually standing face-to-face with them. No photo or video could capture those intense eyes, the regal air they carried themselves with, or the general sense of optimism and progress about them. Spirit certainly exhibited all of these things along with an energetic spark and a sense of wonder all her own as she stopped up on top of a ridge and turned to face him.

“This is, I guess you’d say, our capital. Welcome to Meridiani City.” She gestured out over the enormous cityscape behind her. Like the Rovarians who built it, pictures could do no justice to the real thing. Glittering silver and glass towers jutted high into the sky, rising out of an equally gleaming metallic jungle of buildings, bridges and elevated tram tracks. Off to one side, a ground-based spaceport was busy with ships lifting off or touching down, and a few even sat in dry dock structures where service workers appeared to flit across their hulls like ants. Elsewhere, a power plant of solar arrays and wind turbines was in constant motion. Beyond this were other large buildings whose purpose couldn’t be determined from here. The only dust and dirt to really be seen was at the very bottoms of buildings on the outskirts of the city. The entire place was a flurry of constant activity, much like the Earth cities of New York or Chicago or Los Angeles. Unlike its Earth counterparts, however, Meridiani was completely free of smog or pollution.

“ _….oh my_ ,” Amity breathed. “The satellite images are nothing compared to this…” After several long moments of awestruck gazing, he managed to find words again. “Your capital is beautiful… a spectacular feat of engineering and design!”

Amity snapped a photo, telling himself it was for data, when really he knew he’d get more use out of it for memories’ sake.

He coughed and tried to regain composure, though his voice betrayed him. “Ah…. lead the way, ma’am.”

Spirit whirled around to face him again.

“Hoookay, before we go any further, I’m nowhere NEAR old enough to be a ma’am. I know, humans call every girl that, but not here.” She turned around and continued into the city again, still talking, “Actually, nobody here uses ma’am. Sir, yes, mainly within fleet ranks, but we try not to isolate gender TOO much. The humans did that and it led to the massive slowdown in their advancement.”

“As for the feat of engineering and design, you can thank the Martians-that’s what we call the species that was here before us. They left behind their resources and technology, and when they evolved us, they gave Oppy and I their knowledge of what it all was and how to use it. We’ve also picked up some things from other species, too.”

“…o-oh!”

Tact. You’d think a liaison whose job is peacekeeping would have a _little_ more of it.

“I-I apologize,” Amity said, starting to overheat. He made a sort of throat-clearing noise. “Didn’t mean to cause offense.”

Desperate to change the topic, he nodded toward the buildings again. “Sometime, may I speak with a historian? I believe getting a deep knowledge of history helps to ease disputes.”

She brushed off the apology casually,

“No worries, I’m not offended. You made a mistake because you didn’t know something, I do it all the time. Don’t overheat about it, even though there’s a medical center close by.” Sure enough, he could see a huge building with a stylized winged staff on it. A well known symbol of medicine.

“Yeah. Admiral Ceres has friends at the Archives, he’ll know who to send you to for history, though ours is pretty short.”

Amity made a note of the medical center as they passed by. He hadn’t meant to underestimate the Rovarians, but their progress still impressed him.

He hoped he wouldn’t put his wheel in his mouth bad enough to end up in that place, though.

“Good to know, thank you.”

They continued on toward the heart of the city, passing busy streets and plazas full of people, Rovarian people, rushing around as city crowds do. They passed a few public parks, where smaller MER-type rovers chased each other around shrieking and giggling happily while Spirit-sized adults watched.

Children. Rovarian children playing under the watchful eyes of their parents.

If Amity had a real mouth, he might’ve let a small smile escape him. The Rovarian children were quite cute, though he noticed that several of them were just about as tall as he was. He waved at one small child.

“Everyone sure looks busy,” Amity commented. “You must have a very healthy economy, I take it?”

“Yeah, we do. With other species, whose identities I won’t disclose because of an agreement we have with them regarding contact with Earth.” Spirit seemed to smile with her eyes as the child waved back

Suddenly, the tiny child raced over to them.

“SPEEWIT!!” the little one shrieked.

“Hey there, Aries!” Spirit said, recognizing him as the child almost ran into her. She laughed as she bent forward and picked up the giggling little boy, who hugged her neck excitedly.

Amity gave a slight nod as he filed away what she’d said; he hoped he would get more information about these other species eventually.

When the little child approached Spirit at full speed, Amity watched with a bit of disappointment as he wondered if the kid was hers. Though, if he was, it was strange that he called her by name instead of some variation of "mother". He rolled away a couple of paces to give them space.

“Ah… and who is this little one?”

“This is Aries, he’s the son of Ambassador Carina. His father…..was in the war.” Her eyes darkened, saying what her words didn’t. This child’s father had been killed by humans during the short but bloody war the humans had started. Spirit hugged the child a little closer, almost as if protecting him from her own memories of the nightmarish battlefields.

“Aries, this is Amity. He does the same thing your mama does, but he’s from Earth. Can you say hi for me?” Aries squirmed in her arms until he was looking at the smaller rover.

“Hi, Amenomy…Anemenemone…..I mean Aminny.”

“Close enough.” Spirit laughed.

Amity wished he could extend his arm to Spirit’s shoulder as a show of comfort, but knew that the few hours he’d known her meant he’d be overstepping just about every boundary. He turned his attention to the child, Aries, instead.

When Aries greeted him, Amity let out a genuine laugh, not a nervous one or the fake laughs he’d been practicing. This kid was too sweet.

“Hi, kiddo. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Miss Speewit, look what Mommy got me!” He excitedly held up a small model of the Curiosity rover.

“Wow, that’s a neat toy you got there. What’s it do?” Spirit set him down, where he proceeded to show off every light-up and movable feature on the toy rover, driving it around and imitating its sounds just like Earth children did with toy cars.

“There you are, Aries.” came a new voice. An adult Rovarian came over to where they were watching Aries playing. She was about the same size as Spirit, but she was outfitted differently. In place of the bronze-red armor Spirit wore, this woman had a gray stole around her shoulders and silver upper-arm bands with stylized olive leaves engraved into them.

“Ah, perfect. Amity, this is Ambassador Carina, Aries’ mother. Carina, Amity here is a representative from Earth.”

“Pleased to meet you, Amity.” The ambassador held out her hand, “I see you’ve met my son.” She nodded toward Aries, who had lost interest in the grownups standing and talking and was now taking his toy Curiosity on a ‘mission’ to discover the rocks his own wheels had overturned.

“Likewise, Ambassador.” Amity stretched out his arm and placed the turret in her hand with a firm shake. “NASA and their partners extend greetings from humanity.”

Despite his proper greeting, the feeling of self-consciousness crept up on him again. This new Rovarian seemed to radiate grace and power. Amity suddenly remembered the NASA logo adorning his sides and the taser in his turret. He didn’t want to be seen as a threat, or worse, a spy.

When the Ambassador acknowledged her son, Amity only gave a tiny nod, scooting away from the boy slightly. “Ah, yes, he’s charming. You must be very proud.” 

“What are you afraid of? I don’t bite.” She seemed confused by his reaction.

“I got it,” Spirit piped up, “He moved away because he thinks we see him as a threat, even though we have no reason to.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Carina nodded as she turned back to Amity, “You need not fear us. You were sent here by NASA, who were our friends and allies during the war for our world. Without them, we may have lost our homeworld. Or we may never have existed at all. Any friend or representative from them is more than welcome here.”

Amity forced his systems to cool, as he felt nervous heat threatening to overwhelm him again. “Right…. ah, thank you, Ambassador. Your show of hospitality is greatly appreciated.”

Too embarrassed to make eye contact with the Rovarians, he looked around at the large buildings, the people speeding by, and the sunlight reflecting off of metal and glass. It was truly beautiful.

“….I’ve been here less than a week, and speaking for myself, I already think that your civilization is incredible. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to speak to you face to face. And,” he said, finally making eye contact with Spirit and Carina, “I would love to make real friends with you all.”

Spirit snorted and burst into laughter.

“Who’s talking about me?” A powerfully built male Rovarian, identical to Spirit, but with a black solar array instead of brown, spoke up. He had on the same armor and the same three connected gold bands on his upper arms that Spirit had. Unlike her, he had two disruptors in holsters, along with his stunner and a collapsed staff weapon on his back. The other NASA rover, MER B, Opportunity.

Like his sister, he stood tall and straight, radiating authority, but in a way that commanded respect, not fear. “I heard my name.” he said.

“Amity, this is our other leader and my identical twin brother, Opportunity.” Spirit introduced the two, “Opportunity, NASA sent Amity to us.”

“So they told me,” Opportunity said, “My apologies, Amity, I meant to have someone meet you at your landing site and I forgot. That’s my mistake. I hope it didn’t cause too much trouble for you.” He looked over the small rover with concerned eyes, as if checking him for injuries.

….holy moly. This Rovarian was...handsome. And Amity hoped he’d never have to face off against this one; his taser was nothing compared to all those weapons, and Opportunity looked like he could steamroll over Amity’s tiny frame anyway.

It took several moments for Amity to find words, and when he did, they left his speaker with the roughness of static. “I,, ah,, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. And um, don’t worry about my landing, I’m unharmed. And I made it here in one piece thanks to Spirit.”

“I’m not surprised. No one would dare lay a malicious hand on you with my sister around. They always call her when a military trainee gets cocky and thinks he’s better than he actually is. She mops the floor with him, which knocks him back into place.”

“Hey, Pot. It’s me, Kettle. You’re calling me black.” Spirit scoffed. To Amity, she added, “He won’t ever admit it, but he’s the best pilot on the planet, too. And everyone knows it.”

“Stop bragging, Spirit.” Opportunity barked.

“Make me! Anyway, it’s not bragging if it’s true!” She laughed as she dodged a playful swat at her. Of course, he’d never _actually_ harm her, but such ‘play sparring’ was common between the two siblings. She came back at him with a fake lunge, which he barely managed to jump away from. They didn’t look like it, but the Rovarians could actually move quite fast, and they were pretty agile, too.

“Anyway, Amity, now we’re both here, so what’s next for you?” Spirit asked after sneakily swatting her twin’s arm when he tried to dodge her feint.

As Amity watched the two swipe at each other, a pang of loneliness hit him. Sure, he’d talked to scientists, engineers, and even the press back at JPL, but there were only a handful he could call friends. He wished he had gotten the chance to have a twin.

“Well,” said Amity, “I don’t mean to keep any of you. I’ll let you attend to other duties, but was there a room supposed to be prepared for me? If not, that’s quite alright. I was designed to withstand the elements.”

He looked around for nearby park signs. “Just let me know where I can go so as to not trespass or loiter.”

“Loiter?” Spirit questioned as Opportunity pulled out a datapad and his fingers flew across it.

“Illegal activity in some places on Earth,” Opportunity read, “To loiter is to stand or wait around idly or without apparent purpose.“

“Thanks, Mr. Data.” Spirit said dryly. “It’s a public place, there’s no such thing as trespassing or loitering. But Oppy did remember to reserve a room for you at the Embassy-no, not the chain hotel from Earth, an actual diplomatic embassy. Come on, we’ll take you there.”

“Or,” Opportunity added, “we can show you anything else you might want to see.”

Amity nodded. “Thank you. I welcome the offer, but I think I’d like to rest my wheels for the rest of today. They aren’t as hardy as yours,” he added with a small chuckle.

“And thank you all for having me. To be truthful, I was a bit worried I’d have to return to Earth if things went sour on the first day I met you all.”

“Why would they go-SPIDER!!” Opportunity shrieked, drawing his disruptors and unloading on a spot on the ground. When he finally let up, there was a charred, melted fake spider on the ground and Spirit was laughing hysterically, as was Aries.

“Silly Opera-toony! It fake! No real.” Aries picked up what remained of the fake spider and showed it to a rather annoyed looking Opportunity, who was busy glaring at his sister.

“You ALWAYS fall for that! Every time, even when it’s such an obvious fake!” Spirit giggled, “Anyway, that’s payback for the dust-bucket on my head last week.”

“This means WAR.” Oppoortunity growled melodramatically. Spirit just laughed.

“I’ll leave our guest with you, Oppy. Captain Kiali and I are going for a girls’ night with some friends.”

“Have fun, then.” Opportunity waved. Spirit started to go, but then paused as if she forgot something. She squealed tires as she raced back and hugged her brother tight.

“I love you, Oppy.” She said softly. She’d taken to doing this every time she left him. After almost losing him in the war, she always made sure the last thing she said to him before leaving him was that she loved him. Knowing this, Opportunity hugged her back.

“I love you, too, Spirit.” He made sure the last words she heard from him were always that he loved her. They embraced a moment longer, then they separated and Spirit raced off, disappearing into the crowd. Carina bid them farewell also, carrying a yawning Aries in her arms. This left just Amity and the ‘handsome’ leader Opportunity.

With a wave and a goodbye, Amity watched Spirit speed away. He even made a mental note of the fake spider, hoping that knowledge could come in handy as a friendly prank in the future. He’d seen these two together for what- five minutes? -and already wished he could be part of a relationship like that. 

_Maybe part of their-_

No! Amity slapped away the thought. These were _business_ relationships.

He said goodbye to the Ambassador and Aries, finding himself suddenly at a loss for words when the only one that remained was that fine hunk of metal Opportunity.

“So… shall we?” Gosh. JPL should have checked his systems better before launch, because the overheating started to creep up on him again. 

“Yes, before you overheat.” Opportunity agreed. At the shocked look from Amity, he pointed to the two Mini-TES cameras set between his Pancam lenses. 

“Secondary set of eyes. With infrared vision. I can see your systems heating up. You should probably cool off…..or I could give you a lift.” He nodded to a flat space on his solar array, large enough for someone Amity’s size to actually sit and ride the Rovarian, as long as they held onto him. Both sets of Opportunity’s eyes fixed Amity with a concerned, even worried look. 

“……wha-what?? Does that mean… Spirit’s been able to see every time this happened?” 

Amity wanted the red Martian ground to swallow him. So much for being a respectable ambassador and anthropologist; he was a wreck! 

He looked away nervously. “Ah, I think a ride would be nice. Thank you very much… I think you’d have to end up carrying me either way.” 

“Yes, but she didn’t want to scare you. You also weren’t on the verge of passing out either.” Opportunity noted. Strong arms lifted the smaller rover up as if he were Aries’ toy and gently set him on the back of the big MER. 

“Hold on.” he advised. Once he knew Amity was secure, he started off, at the quick pace that was normal when he had to get somewhere. Other people occasionally waved or called out to him, and while Opportunity acknowledged them, he didn’t slow down. From on his back, one could actually FEEL the strength and raw power in the Rovarian’s body. 

One could also see some scars that were unmistakably old wounds from the war. 

Amity knew rovers didn’t have muscles like humans, but those arms… _oh my_. He tried to keep his composure. 

He studied more buildings and Rovarians as they passed by. Amity waved to some, and he used his telescopic cameras to inspect interesting details in the architecture. This place had not yet failed to amaze him. 

Soon enough, his attention turned to the body upon which he rode. There were lines that looked like hasty welds on several parts of Opportunity’s metal. _Do Rovarians bleed?_ he wondered. _Those must have been painful_. Amity knew he shouldn’t comment, but the words would gnaw at him until he spoke. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, you know. It’s not fair. My mission includes protecting the interests of _all_ humanity, but…” 

He looked at the welds. “…if I had been here earlier, maybe I could have spared you and your fallen from that pain.” 

The Rovarian shook his head. 

“On the contrary, I don’t think you would have come into existence if not for that conflict. Besides, the people who initiated the conflict were not the kind of people who could be reasoned with. They truly believed they were helping their world by destroying ours, and the only way to protect their kind was to exterminate us. Does that excuse it? No, but recognizing such things helps us to avoid becoming extremists like those who sought to annihilate us. But it was through that conflict I believe we became closer with the humans. The aftermath forced both sides to recognized the things they had in common and realize they aren’t that different from each other.” He reached around to about midway down his back. 

“As for the scars, yes the wounds were painful, frag, I almost DIED from them. But I got them when I took six bullets-big bullets-in the chest so my sister could get herself and an injured person safely off the battlefield. She’d have died if I hadn’t done that. So I’m glad I got the scars.” 

Amity listened carefully, enraptured by the soldier’s words. He nodded slowly to himself and watched where Opportunity touched his back while speaking. 

A part of him wanted to reach out and gently touch those scars like he’d seen in romantic movies back on Earth, but he refrained from the urge. He’d settle for comforting words instead. 

“You sound like a hero to me,” Amity said softly, “I don’t know if I could ever be that brave. I commend you, sir.” 

“It was an impulse.” he scoffed, “When I saw laser sight dots on her.” Opporunity’s voice softened. 

“People can do amazing things when trying to protect those they love. I’m sure if someone you loved was in such danger, you too would risk yourself to save them.” Rays of the setting sun shot between buildings to land on his armor, giving him the appearance of being on fire, as if the fire came from within him to mirror his words and the strength of his love for his sister and his people. The sight was nothing short of stunning, beautiful even. 

“Hmm. You’d think. I was never fond of fights, I’m too much of a-” 

Amity bit off his sentence at the word _coward_. 

“….peacekeeper. That’s my job anyway, I’m fine with it.” 

As he spoke, Opportunity was set on fire. At least, that was how it seemed when the sun hit his armor. Amity was blinded by the shine, but couldn’t stop looking. Right when he thought this Rovarian couldn’t get any more gorgeous, he was lit up in a brilliant blaze. 

“….wow.” 

“Wow what?” The Rovarian asked. He stopped, wondering if the smaller one was okay. Which meant he remained in the blazing light.It was a fitting look, really. Just like a phoenix, Opportunity and his twin had risen again from the Martian dirt and become something greater than anyone had ever imagined. Now here he stood, in the flaming light, and it showed both sides of him, the kind, caring, loving side that engaged his sister in prank wars, and the fierce, selfless warrior and leader who wouldn’t think twice about dying for his family or his people. 

“…..nothing. I just realized something beautiful.” 

Though it hadn’t been said aloud, Amity knew that Opportunity and Spirit were one two of a kind. He’d been flooded with human history and culture, and had seen very few leaders on Earth with the genuine caring and protective ferocity that these two displayed. It was a refreshing change. 

_I’m going to do whatever I can to preserve their culture_ , Amity thought. _They should be respected_. 

“Oh? Do tell.” The Rovarian said with interest. 

This was another way they were different. How many Earth leaders would be seen just milling about amongst their people like Spirit was likely doing right now? How many Earth leaders actually carried a weary traveler on their back so they could rest? And how many Earth leaders would allow someone else’s child to just run up to them? Clearly, Rovarian society was very different from Earth. And so far, everyone seemed a lot happier than the humans did. 

These Rovarians had a way of getting Amity to say things he didn’t want to say. They even knew things he didn’t want them to know. It was almost exciting. 

“…..I think you and your sister are very respectable,” he said. “No society deserves the ignorance-fueled hate you suffered. No society should have so many loved ones die for a conflict that didn’t need to happen. It was my job anyway, but I’m going to make sure no human lays a hand or weapon on any Rovarian. As an anthropologist, ambassador, and… friend.” 

“On behalf of my people, thank you, and we will do all we can to help you in your efforts. We did not want war, but when they came to our home and slaughtered innocent people, children and babies included, we couldn’t stand by and allow it to continue. We tried diplomacy and reasoning first, but it failed. More people died. So we stood up to the enemy and we fought back. I’m sure you know the rest.” Opportunity turned back to him, “And you are as much a hero as I am. A warrior for peace is no less a warrior." 

If Amity had a heart, it would have swelled at those words. He felt a warmth in his core that wasn’t the result of overheating; it felt like compassion. And pride. 

“Ah, well, thank you,” he stuttered. Amity was glowing- Opportunity thought him to be a warrior! 

Like his sister, the Rovarian somehow smiled with his eyes. He continued on again as the sun disappeared over the horizon, the city already lighting up for the night. Even the lighting was a work of art. Some of the skyscrapers continually changed colors and brightness. It was almost hypnotic. 

The Embassy was an impressive dull silver building with the same insignia as the one from Carina’s armbands on it above the main entrance. Opportunity took a lift up to where the quarters for visitors were. He was about to tell Amity they’d arrived when he saw that the smaller rover had already folded up and gone to sleep. Gently, the Rovarian lifted him down and placed him on the soft pad that Rovarians parked on to sleep. He left a datapad with a note saying how to contact him or Spirit if Amity needed something. Quietly, he slipped out as the door slid closed. 


End file.
